4 Responses to “What happens to sportbikes after they’re totaled?”

“The theft ring focused on high-performance motorcycles of recent vintage. The crew’s specialty was to steal a motorcycle and dismantle it for resale within a few days. When the vehicles were reduced to pieces, the thieves would sell the various parts without serial numbers on popular Internet auction sites.

Engine blocks stamped with a serial number were usually sold on sites catering to “dwarf car” racing. Dwarf cars are 5/8th the size of regular vehicles and are powered by motorcycle engines. Racing these vehicles is popular in California and other states where the events take place on privately owned tracks. In dwarf car racing, the engines work to their limit and their lifespan can be as short as a week. The engines are expensive disposable parts. “

Yeah – actually, I had a 600RR stolen back then…it was probably thrown into a van judging by the kind of fairing damage. The police found it a week later living a sad life as a stunt bike – before it spent the next six months lost in paperwork limbo at the police impound.

Personally, I don’t think we ought to be paranoid talking to people – instead just make sure your bike is chained up to something solid… even if it’s parked indoors in your garage. My bike was parked on the street when it was stolen – only in a spot where I couldn’t chain it up to anything.